Optical Illusion
by GSAF-RRwriters
Summary: While Warrick and Grissom are away at a seminar and Catherine is left to handle shift, Greg goes missing. But when their quest to find Greg will teach them one thing - - nothing is as it seems. GSAF Round Robin
1. Stars

**ROUND ROBIN: CHAPTER ONE**

**By RainbowsnStars**

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**: Here it is - - the first chapter of the GSAF Round Robin. Hope this is a good first chapter. It was originally a WIP idea that I had, but I think the idea is better used here.

**DISCLAIMER**: No one in GSAF owns anything affiliated with CSI or CBS. We are merely borrowing the characters to use as our puppets in sick, twisted, angsty stories, such as this one.

* * *

Warrick was pacing around Grissom, who was trying to reach Catherine for the sixth time. Their plane had landed just under an hour ago and Catherine was supposed to come and pick them up. Yet, neither of the CSIs was able to reach Catherine, nonetheless anyone else on nightshift.

Grissom let out a sigh as he snapped his phone shut. "No one is picking up in my office either. Let's just hail a cab. The crime lab isn't far from here."

"Sure everything is okay?" Warrick asked, gripping his suitcase and following Grissom through the mass of people at the airport.

Grissom and Warrick had gone out of state for a two-day seminar Grissom was partially teaching - - "How Bugs Can Create A Timeline For T.O.D." - - and Grissom had left Catherine in charge of shift. It was supposed to be an easy two days - - this time of the year was Nevada's lowest crime rate.

Grissom hadn't heard from neither Nick, Sara, Catherine nor Greg so he assumed the lab hadn't been blown up again - - once was enough - - no one was in the hospital and Greg's first few weeks out in the field were going smoothly.

"I never want to see another bug in my life," Warrick grumbled. "I don't get how you do it Gris. Maybe I should start calling you 'Gruesome Grissom' from now on."

Grissom grinned and climbed into the yellow cab that smelled faintly of cat pee and cigarette smoke.

- - -

Neither Grissom nor Warrick remembered the last time Catherine cried, if ever. Yet here she was, racing down the hall towards the two of them. For a second Warrick denied that anything was wrong and she was crying in joy, but her body hitched as another sob escaped her throat, his wishes were shattered.

"He's g-g-gone Gris! Greg is missing a-a-and no one can f-f-find him." Catherine collapsed into Grissom while Warrick went wide-eyed and raced to find Nick and Sara.

Warrick didn't have to go very far. Nick was consoling Sara in the break room. Warrick pushed through the doors and raced to their sides. "What's going on? Cath told me - -"

"G-G-Greg's..." Sara couldn't finish her sentence as she started into a new fit of tears.

Nick didn't even look up when Warrick laid a hand on his wet shoulder. "Will someone please explain?" Nick just shrugged and glanced up at Warrick.

Warrick could see that he too had been crying at one time. His eyes were bloodshot and red rimmed, dark bags forming under his eyes. "One day he was just..._gone_."

Warrick threw his hands up in the air and went back to find Grissom and Catherine who had managed to get to Grissom's office. Catherine wasn't crying anymore; used tissues were scattered around her chair.

Grissom signaled for Warrick to shut the door and take a seat. "Now Catherine," Grissom began calmly. "Why don't you start from the beginning?"

She nodded and sniffled a few times, tearing the tissue in her hands. "About an hour after you and Warrick left on Tuesday, Nick found Greg outside, yelling at someone on the phone. He didn't eavesdrop that much, but what he _did_ hear made it sound like Greg was arguing with a sibling, or family member."

"Do you know what they arguing about?" Warrick interjected.

Catherine stopped to think about it. "Not specifics, no. Nick claimed it sounded like family business."

"After that?" Grissom inquired.

"So after that phone call, Greg got really defensive, like he was scared someone was going to beat him up. But Gris, I have to tell you - - ever since the accident in the lab, Greg has been like that on and off. One moment he'll be really happy. The next...it's like you've suddenly become his enemy."

Warrick placed his hand over Catherine's shaking one. "When's the last time you saw him?"

She answered immediately. "Right after he stormed out of the break room after our fight. He clocked out and hasn't been back."

"Your _fight_?" Grissom said, astonished. He shot a skeptical glance at Warrick, who only nodded. "Care to elaborate?"

A few stray tears began to drip down Catherine's face. "He was in his scared mood when I told him about out latest case - - an explosion in a gym at the nearby high school. I saw Greg flinch pretty badly when I said 'explosion' so I asked him if he could handle it. He didn't answer and I told him that is he was too scared to, he didn't have to. One second later he was on his feet and in my face..."

"_I shouldn't have to be scared! If someone has followed mandatory procedure and just _checked_ the hotplate, I wouldn't be so freaked about fires and explosions."_

"Greg, I am not going to get into this with you right now. I said I was sorry and tried to make up for it by bringing you out in the field - -"

"Greg shoved his hands in my face, and boy, were they shaking bad."

"_Is you apology going to make my hands stop shaking whenever I get scared or nervous? And you bringing me out in the field isn't making up for anything - - that's just pity and I don't need your fucking pity."_

"_Boy do you have shitty timing Greg. Isn't this stuff you are supposed to bring up with your therapist? I don't have the time or energy to argue with you. You don't have to forgive me, but I am you superior so you have to treat me with respect."_

"_You want respect? Don't blow people up in the place they feel safest."_

"Greg stormed out after that. Nick went to go check on him after shift and that was when we first noticed he was missing. His car and wallet were gone, but his cell phone was still charging on the counter and the front door wasn't locked."

Warrick nodded. "Greg says that he always locks his doors, even when he is home. Any sign of a struggle inside?"

"We found a pool of his blood beside his phone, but that's it." Catherine dropped her head into her hands and started crying. Grissom silently signaled for Warrick to follow him out. But just before the two men left, Catherine spoke one last time.

"Nick, on a whim, checked with Desert Palms to see if Greg had been admitted. About forty-five minutes after shift, Greg, with a non-identified couple, was treated as an outpatient with a gunshot wound to the upper arm. No one has seen or heard from him since."

* * *

**Next Up: Krazy**


	2. Krazy

**ROUND ROBIN: CHAPTER TWO**

**By KrazyKid197**

**A/N-** So, here is chapter 2. Kinda hard to take Stars' story in a direction, without pinning it down too much, but I think I did OK. I think.

* * *

Grissom listened, absorbing the information, processing it in his mind, before saying.

"Nick, go back to the hospital, get copies of there surveillance, take it A/V- and get Archive to get some headshots of the couple, we'll see if we can get an ID. Sara, Warrick, do some digging on Greg, just the same as any other disappearance. Catherine, I want you to run me through exactly what happened. Meet me in the break room as soon as you are done."

The other's left to there ordered destinations and Grissom pointed to his office, and guided Catherine in there, sitting down.

"You do realize that there's another possibility, don't you? That he doesn't want to be found."

Catherine lifted her head up, from where it had been resting in her hands. "You don't think that..."

The supervisor held up his hands to stop her, before continuing.

"I didn't say that I believed it, I said it was a possibility. He's a grown man, Catherine, and he does have the right to disappear, however much we may want to admit it, say it's not in his character, etc. But from what you said, he's been a little out of character anyway."

"But still, it just seems wrong. This isn't settling in my gut."

"Then we'll find him, Catherine. But you have to be prepared: we may have to let him go."

- - -

Greg sighed and tentatively fingered the bandage around his upper arm, scratching just under the edge of it. Since the morphine injection, he was unable to feel pain, but it still managed to itch like hell, just beyond where his fingers could reach. He swore under his breath.

Footsteps behind him caused him to turn around and confront the owner.

"How's the injury?"

"You had your boyfriend shoot me. How do you think I feel? I should just go and leave you two standing."

"Don't give me empty threats Greg." The woman came up beside Greg and glared at him. "I know you won't leave, you know it, so there's really no point."

Greg matched her glare. "You don't know that. You don't know what's going on inside my head."

"On the contrary, my little friend, I _do_ know that you won't leave, because I have...let's just say...leverage."

The young woman, who was maybe in her late twenties, pulled out an envelope and brandished it in front of him. Greg's face paled as he realized what it was, but his jaw remained clamped shut, to keep in whatever sharp retort he had been about to come up with. She smiled and pushed a lock of dark brown hair behind her ear.

"That's better. So you do remember then. Don't act all holier than thou to me, Greg, because I know your darkest secrets."

"So what exactly are we doing?"

She grinned at him, an evil glint in her eye. "It's a surprise, takes all the fun out of it if I tell you now."

The pair was approached by a man, also in his late twenties, who had a gun tucked into the hem of his jeans. He wrapped his arm around the woman's waist and the two kissed. Greg pretended to gag.

"Can you two get a room?"

The couple glared at him, and the man's hand moved closer to the gun, causing Greg to take a step backwards.

"Come on, we need to get going."

"After you, Greg. Unless, you want to go home?"

He warily eyed the package, before shaking his head.

"Good boy."

She laughed. Boy, did he hate her right now. But he still followed the pair to the car and sat in the back, fingers straying to the bandages again, moving away the sling to scratch.

- - -

The nightshift CSI team were sat in the conference room. Grissom started off.

"Nick, did you get them?"

The CSI pulled out the two headshots of the unidentified couple from the hospital. "These were the best Archie could get, they're not brilliant, but..."

He was right; the pictures were grainy, and a little unclear, but that was all they had. Surveillance didn't normally make for good footage. They were designed to be easy to store and used for quick glances.

"Does Brass have a copy?"

"He does, and they're being circulated."

"Good. Warrick, Sara, did you get anything?"

The two CSIs exchanged a look before Sara spoke up. "Not really, except that a record is missing. We think it was a newspaper article, but as we don't know the date or paper, it's a dead end."

"Anything else?"

"Not really boss. All looks normal."

"So now what?"

"Now we wait."

Catherine looked outraged. "Grissom, we can't just hang around and do nothing, he could be hurt, or - - "

Grissom held up his hand, and the protestor silenced. "This case can't be special, or we will never find him. This is what we'd do for any other potential victim, so it's what we do for Greg. You understand?"

He received reluctant affirmations from each member of the team.

"Good."

* * *

**Next Up: Pointeboots**


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